Its done! Here Is The Sewing Desk Reveal!!!

 Its done!  Finally!  I am jumping for joy and shouting HOORAY!!  Okay, I know, its a little anti-climactic right?  I showed you a sneak peak two weeks ago, and you all were probably wondering what in the world was taking so long!  Well, I ran into a few snags.  I'll explain about those later.  I realized that I never showed you all my "inspiration" for this sewing desk.  A few years ago I bought plans from Rockler for a sewing cabinet.  It is awesome!  It folds out and has a place for your sewing machine and serger!  Plus, when it is all closed, it looks like a normal piece of furniture and hides both machines.  Here is a picture.

This is not the exact one I have the plans for, but you get the idea.  Hubby figured out the cost of materials would be about $200!  Plus, this was beyond my skill level of wood working, and he didn't have time.  So this is my alternative. 

Before:

I don't know exactly how old this desk is, but I would guess maybe it was made in the 60's or 70's?  The previous owner converted this from a writing desk to a sewing desk, so I can't take credit for that conversion.  I paid $5 at an auction!  What a steal!

Here she is now:

Isn't she pretty?  I love it!  After sanding and priming, I used 2 coats of Kilz white primer, I started looking for paint!  Now, I could not find an oops paint I liked from our selection so I bought a quart of paint.  It was not cheap, it killed me to pay the price!  $15 for a quart!!!  Its robbery I tell you, robbery!  Anyway, I chose Harbor Breeze blue from the Lowe's Signiture line.  I love the color!  I did two coats of blue paint.  Then came the fun stuff.  I have never done much distressing before.  This was a first for me.

 I took the palm sander with the 60 grit paper, and just lightly touched it to the edges.  In most places it went all the way to the wood, in some just to the primer.  It was much easier than I thought it would be.  After the distressing, I did some glazing.  Now, I will admit, I did this the expensive way.  I didn't realize with acrylic paint that you could just mix it down with water and use it as a glaze.  I actually bought glaze, it is not cheap, actually its way too expensive.  1 gallon was $26, but I did have a 10% off coupon, so that helped some.  I used maybe 1/2 cup of the glaze mixed with my own mix of black and white acrylic paint.  So, I have lots of glaze left.  That's okay, I figure I'll use it up.  But now I know, that I don't have to do it that way!  I will say one thing, if you use the glaze, it does not dry as fast as the acrylic mixed with water, so if you are wanting something that gives you more time to work with it, I would suggest using the glaze.   I painted on my glaze, and waited a few minutes and wiped it off.  I did this twice to get the effect I wanted.

 After all this, I added 3 coats of poly acrylic.  It seals the paint and keeps it from chipping off so easily.  Next came the hard part.  Knobs and handles.  I went to Lowe's and Home Depot, and finally found what I wanted at Home Depot.  I brought them home, and I was all excited, then I put the handles on and realized that they did not cover the holes completely.  When the original hardware was put on they drilled 1/4 inch holes, that is huge!  So I decided to borrow an idea from Jillian at The Virginia House (you can see her fix here) and I added jute twine and made a handle.

 After that, my knobs didn't match.  I pulled out my favorite glue, JB Weld, and my Jute, and the original knobs.  I glued and wrapped, and held, and glued and wrapped and held until I thought my fingers were going to be permanently covered in glue and jute!  But I love the end result! 

The snags I told you about?  Well, when I was priming the desk, I decided it needed to be turned on its side to get to some of the nooks and crannies easier, and I popped one of the feet off.  Not too big a deal I thought.  Ended up, hubby had to help with that.  We had to scrape off all the old glue, and do some sanding.  Then he realized that when the piece popped off it broke the two screws that were holding it in place, so he had to get those out.  We got it back in place and fixed up.  He also had to cut one section of the hole a little larger, and glue one of the drawer supports back on.  Like I said little snags. So, the total cost of this desk?  Just under $20!!  Woohoo!

Hubby moved the desk upstairs, then surprised me!  He told me to take a corner, as well as the storage cubby for my sewing and crafting stuff!!  He helped create a space just for me!!  I am so excited about that, I now have a crafting space!   Here it is!!!

We're going to do something so that the back of the desk looks better, but for now this is it!  I got a chance to use the desk on Tuesday for the first time!  A friend needed help with a quilt, it was so much fun for me!  I love quilting, and I realized just how perfect this desk is for sewing.  I am a happy lady this week!

Now its your turn, where do you sew or craft?  Show us, or tell us, we'd all love to hear!  I hope you all have a great creative weekend!
Melissa

Parties I'm linking to:
Trash to Treasure @ Sassy Sites
Twice Owned Tuesday @ House of Grace
Under $100 Party @ Beyond The Picket Fence
Time Travel Thursday @ Brambleberry Cottage
We Can Do It Cheaper @ The Virginia House
Thrilling Thursdays @ Paisley Passions
Remodelaholc's Anonymous @ Remodelaholic
Furniture Feature Friday @ Mustard Seed Creations
Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest
Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous 
Color Challenge Party @ Funky Junk Interiors
SNS @ Funky Junk Interiors
Making It With Allie @ What Allie's Making